Plain Dealer file photoVoters this fall will decide on a redistricting reform proposal.

COLUMBUS, Ohio - The group behind the redistricting reform proposal filed a lawsuit Thursday in the Ohio Supreme Court in an attempt to put a new description of the proposal before voters on the Nov. 6 ballot.

The Republican-controlled Ohio Ballot Board last week approved a summary (read the summary in the DocumentCloud viewer below) of the proposal known as Issue 2 that is misleading to voters, Voters First Ohio said in its lawsuit.

The union-backed group asked the court to scrap the ballot wording and replace it with new language either written by the court or approved by the ballot board at a future meeting.

"The Ohio Ballot Board is required to give voters a fair and informative summary of the issues they're deciding. On Issue 2, the ballot board failed to do its job," Voters First spokeswoman Sandy Theis said in a statement.

Issue 2 would establish a 12-member commission to draw the state's legislative and congressional districts, a process now controlled by elected officials.

Proponents argue the commission would help take politics out of the redistricting process, which they say has been plagued by partisanship at the expense of voters. Republicans controlled the process last year and approved maps that benefit the GOP.

Voters First said the approved ballot language is incomplete. The wording, for example, omits any references to requirements that the commission draw fair districts that reflect the political preferences of Ohio voters.

The ballot language "does not properly identify the substance of the proposal to be voted upon" and was written "to mislead, deceive or defraud the voters," the lawsuit says.

The ballot board approved the summary along party lines. Republican Secretary of State Jon Husted chairs the five-member board, which includes two Democratic appointees.

In response to the lawsuit, Husted spokesman Matt McClellan said, "we believe the ballot language is fair and truthful."

Voters First submitted its preferred ballot language to the board during last week's meeting. However, the board instead voted on language prepared by Husted's office.

Husted, an outspoken critic of Issue 2, told reporters after last week's ballot board meeting that he would rather have put the entire proposal on the ballot instead of a summary. But that would be too expensive, he said.

"When you have something that is as vague and nondefined as this long, sprawling constitutional amendment, it's very difficult to summarize it," he said last week.

Husted said the approved ballot wording "is language that is as generic as possible because it is not meant to persuade."

A Republican-backed group called Protect Your Vote Ohio is leading the campaign against Issue 2.

Opponents argue the redistricting reform proposal is rife with flaws. Creation of a redistricting commission, they say, will take power away from the citizenry because commission members will be appointed and unaccountable to voters.